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VI.
Royal
Commentaries.
.C _H A
P.
I
IV.
Of the great
Hans,
and
Rooms
of
State,
and other things
belonging
to the
Court.
I
N many of the King's Palaces were long and
fpatio~s
Galleries, of
abo~t
two
hundred paces
in
length, and about fifty or
fixcy
m
breadth, wherem they
often danced and celebrated their
Feafis
at thofe feafons of the year, when
the
Rains and bad weather incommoded them
in
the open
Air.
I
remember that
in
Couo
I
faw
four
of thefe Galleries, which when
I
was
a
Child, were
frill
in
be–
ing,
and not ruined : One of them
~as
in
Amarucancha
Street, wJ:iere
Hernando Pi–
fttrro
then lived, and is now the
J
e
f w.tsCollege: The other
~as
m
Cajfana
Street;
but now built and converted int
o Shops, the Rent of
w
h1ch belonged to my
School-fellow
[ohn
de
Cillorico:
Another was
in
Collcampata
Alley, where the
In~a
Paullu,
and his Son
Don Carlos,
who alfo was my School-fellow, had a Rent
m
Houfes :
This
Gallery was the leafi of all the four, and the biggeft was that of
Cajfana,
being capa,ble
to
receive three thoufand perfons.
It is wonderfull to
confider, where it was poilible for them to find Timbers fo long and
f
quare, as
were
fit
for
the Roofs of fuch Edifices. The fourth Gallery
is
now turned into
the Cathedral Church. One thing
is
remarkable, that the
Indians
of
Peru
in
building their Houfes, did never raife one Story above another, nor
did
they join
one Room to another, but always left fome fpace or dillance of one Chamber
from the other, and perhaps a whole Court-Yard, or Qladrangle, between, un–
lefs
fornetimes to their large Halls they built at the comers Come Clofers,'or' irh–
drawing Rooms, for better convenience ; and in the Divifions they made of their
feveral Offices, they raifed Walls of Apanmenr to keep them private one from
the other.
It is farther alfo obfervable, that when they had built the four Walls
of Stone or Brick for a Houfe or Chamber, they ereCl:ed Pillar , or Pofis,
in
the
middle of it, for fupport of the Roof ;
for
they knew not how to crofs their
~earns,
or Rafters, or how to fa!l:en them with
Nail ,
or Wooden
Pins,
but laid
their Timbers loofe upon theWalls, fa!l:ning them onely
to
each other with Sparr,
or Cords made of Straw, or Rufhes, as {hong as our Hempen Ropes. Thefe
main Beams they croifed with Rafters , faflning them one to the other ; on
which they laid a covering of Straw
fo
thick, that the Thatch was a Yard deep;
extending its Eves above a Yard over the Walls,
fo
as to be a Pend-houfe to them
to preferve them from the Rain.
I
remember that in the Vally of
Yucqy
I
once
faw one of thefe large Rooms, which was about feventy Foot fquare, covered
in
form
of a
Pyramid ; the Spire of which was twelve Rod high, though the Walls
were not above three, having two little Chambers on each fide,
This Building
was
not burnt by the
Indians,
when they made their general Infurreetion againft
the
Spaniarcb; .
for though they defuoyed many other Houf
es
of pleafure
in
that
Vally, the
Ruines
of which I have feen ; yet they fpared this Strueture out ·of
re–
fpeet to their
Incas?
.
who had
frequen~ed
this place, being a large and open Square,
or Qgadrangle,
Whteh
ferved for a wide and fpatious Theatre whereon to repre–
fenc their £bows
and
fports at the times of their principal Fectivals.
Be~des
the Walls of Stone, they made alfo Walls of Clay, which they for.. ·
med
.m _Cafes or
Moulds,
for
that purt>ofe,
mixing
the Clay with Straw for bet–
ter bmdmg. The Moulds they made as little, or as large as they pleafed in mea–
fure, or proportion to the Wall ; the fhortefl: were about a Yard long, and about
the
fixt~
pa!t
of a Yard
broa~,
and of a like thicknefs ; which, after they had
well dned
1!1
the Sun, they
laid
them one upon
another
in order ; and after chat
they had lam two or three Years under covering from the Sun , and the
Wacet,
fo
tha~
they were
~ully
dried; they then ufed them
in
their Building , as we do
0
5
ur Bncks,
cementmg them with the fame
Clay, well
tempered,
and
mixed
with
craw.
They